This invention relates to the field of portable, reciprocating saws for topping trees. Portable chain saws have been commercially available for years, and have in recent years become popular with a large segment of the populace. The principal use for these saws has been to reduce felled trees and logs to manageable size, in most instances for home fireplace use.
Such chain saws have typically employed chains as the cutting mechanism and have been powered by gasoline engines attached as an integral part of the chain saw. Of necessity, such saws are bulky, heavy and cumbersome. Manufacturers recommend chain saws be used only at ground level or from suitable platforms. They have been recognized as having inherent limitations for use in applications other than cutting up felled logs. Typical of the prior art in this field are the following U.S. Pat.Nos.: 535,424; 1,062,200; 1,544,092; 2,432,562; and 2,974,695. All of these patents disclose devices for use in cutting up logs; although in at least one instance, the device is described as being a "tree felling apparatus". Other devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,686,351 and 2,783,792 employ non-chain reciprocating blades, but are not designed to accomplish the purpose described here.
None of the prior art patents has addressed the problem of manually carrying a saw to the top of a tree and operating it to top a tree or remove branches. The prior art devices and those on the commercial market do not lend themselves to this specialized field. Such a device would have to be lightweight, compact, and have a detachable power source and means for attaching the saw to a tree during the cutting process, as well as means for holding the saw blade against the tree during hands-off operation of the saw.
It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a portable, lightweight and compact saw for topping trees having means for attaching the saw to a tree and means for holding the saw blade against the tree during automated operation of the saw.